Job 16:9-10

16:9 His ¹  anger has torn me ²  and persecuted ³  me;

he has gnashed at me with his teeth;

my adversary locks ⁴  his eyes on me.

16:10 People ⁵  have opened their mouths against me,

they have struck my cheek in scorn; ⁶ 

they unite ⁷  together against me.

Job 30:9-14

Job’s Indignities

30:9 “And now I have become their taunt song;

I have become a byword ⁸  among them.

30:10 They detest me and maintain their distance; ⁹ 

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

30:11 Because God has untied ¹⁰  my tent cord and afflicted me,

people throw off all restraint in my presence. ¹¹ 

30:12 On my right the young rabble ¹²  rise up;

they drive me from place to place, ¹³ 

and build up siege ramps ¹⁴  against me. ¹⁵ 

30:13 They destroy ¹⁶  my path;

they succeed in destroying me ¹⁷ 

without anyone assisting ¹⁸  them.

30:14 They come in as through a wide breach;

amid the crash ¹⁹  they come rolling in. ²⁰ 

Psalms 22:6-7

22:6 But I ²¹  am a worm, ²²  not a man; ²³ 

people insult me and despise me. ²⁴ 

22:7 All who see me taunt ²⁵  me;

they mock me ²⁶  and shake their heads. ²⁷ 

Psalms 22:13

22:13 They ²⁸  open their mouths to devour me ²⁹ 

like a roaring lion that rips its prey. ³⁰ 

Psalms 35:15-16

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together to ambush me. ³¹ 

They tore at me without stopping to rest. ³² 

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, ³³ 

and tried to bite me. ³⁴ 

Psalms 35:25

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ³⁵  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ³⁶ 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Psalms 69:7-12

69:7 For I suffer ³⁷  humiliation for your sake ³⁸ 

and am thoroughly disgraced. ³⁹ 

69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;

they act as if I were a foreigner. ⁴⁰ 

69:9 Certainly ⁴¹  zeal for ⁴²  your house ⁴³  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ⁴⁴ 

69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, ⁴⁵ 

which causes others to insult me. ⁴⁶ 

69:11 I wear sackcloth

and they ridicule me. ⁴⁷ 

69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;

drunkards mock me in their songs. ⁴⁸ 

Isaiah 49:7

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector ⁴⁹  of Israel, their Holy One, ⁵⁰  says

to the one who is despised ⁵¹  and rejected ⁵²  by nations, ⁵³ 

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect, ⁵⁴ 

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

Isaiah 50:6-7

50:6 I offered my back to those who attacked, ⁵⁵ 

my jaws to those who tore out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from insults and spitting.

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ⁵⁶ 

I know I will not be put to shame.

Isaiah 52:14

52:14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you) ⁵⁷ 

he was so disfigured ⁵⁸  he no longer looked like a man; ⁵⁹ 

Isaiah 53:3

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people, ⁶⁰ 

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him; ⁶¹ 

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant. ⁶² 

Micah 5:1

5:1 (4:14) ⁶³  But now slash yourself, ⁶⁴  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ⁶⁵ 

We are besieged!

With a scepter ⁶⁶  they strike Israel’s ruler ⁶⁷ 

on the side of his face.

Matthew 27:28-31

27:28 They ⁶⁸  stripped him and put a scarlet robe ⁶⁹  around him, 27:29 and after braiding ⁷⁰  a crown of thorns, ⁷¹  they put it on his head. They ⁷²  put a staff ⁷³  in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: ⁷⁴  “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁷⁵  27:30 They ⁷⁶  spat on him and took the staff ⁷⁷  and struck him repeatedly ⁷⁸  on the head. 27:31 When ⁷⁹  they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then ⁸⁰  they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:39-44

27:39 Those ⁸¹  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ⁸²  If you are God’s Son, come down ⁸³  from the cross!” 27:41 In ⁸⁴  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ⁸⁵  and elders ⁸⁶  – were mocking him: ⁸⁷  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ⁸⁸  now from the cross, we will believe in him! 27:43 He trusts in God – let God, if he wants to, deliver him now ⁸⁹  because he said, ‘I am God’s Son’!” 27:44 The ⁹⁰  robbers who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ⁹¹ 

Mark 15:16-20

Jesus is Mocked

15:16 So ⁹²  the soldiers led him into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) ⁹³  and called together the whole cohort. ⁹⁴  15:17 They put a purple cloak ⁹⁵  on him and after braiding ⁹⁶  a crown of thorns, ⁹⁷  they put it on him. 15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁹⁸  15:19 Again and again ⁹⁹  they struck him on the head with a staff ¹⁰⁰  and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him. 15:20 When they had finished mocking ¹⁰¹  him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him. Then ¹⁰²  they led him away to crucify him. ¹⁰³ 

Mark 15:27-32

15:27 And they crucified two outlaws with him, one on his right and one on his left. 15:28 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁰⁴  15:29 Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 15:30 save yourself and come down from the cross!” ¹⁰⁵  15:31 In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ¹⁰⁶  – were mocking him among themselves: ¹⁰⁷  “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! 15:32 Let the Christ, ¹⁰⁸  the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ¹⁰⁹ 

Hebrews 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹¹⁰ 

Hebrews 12:1

The Lord’s Discipline

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ¹¹¹  we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

Hebrews 2:1

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

[16:9]  ¹ tn The referent of these pronouns in v. 9 (“his anger…he has gnashed…his teeth…his eyes”) is best taken as God.

[16:9]  ² sn The figure used now is that of a wild beast. God’s affliction of Job is compared to the attack of such an animal. Cf. Amos 1:11.

[16:9]  ³ tn The verb שָׂטַם (satam) is translated “hate” in the RSV, but this is not accepted by very many. Many emend it to שָׁמט (shamat), reading “and he dropped me” (from his mouth). But that suggests escape. D. J. A. Clines notes that usage shows it reflects ongoing hatred represented by an action such as persecution or attack (Job [WBC], 370).

[16:9]  ⁴ tn The verb is used of sharpening a sword in Ps 7:12; here it means “to look intently” as an animal looks for prey. The verse describes God’s relentless pursuit of Job.

[16:10]  ⁵ tn “People” is supplied; the Hebrew verb is third plural. The colon reads, “they have opened against me with [the preposition is instrumental] their mouth.” The gestures here follow the animal imagery; they reflect destructive opposition and attack (see Ps 22:13 among others).

[16:10]  ⁶ tn This is an “insult” or a “reproach.”

[16:10]  ⁷ tn The verb יִתְמַלָּאוּן (yitmalla’un) is taken from מָלֵא (male’), “to be full,” and in this stem, “to pile up; to press together.” The term has a military connotation, such as “to mobilize” (see D. W. Thomas, “ml'w in Jeremiah 4:5 : a military term,” JJS 3 [1952]: 47-52). Job sees himself surrounded by enemies who persecute him and mock him.

[30:9]  ⁸ tn The idea is that Job has become proverbial, people think of misfortune and sin when they think of him. The statement uses the ordinary word for “word” (מִלָּה, millah), but in this context it means more: “proverb; byword.”

[30:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “they are far from me.”

[30:11]  ¹⁰ tn The verb פָּתַח (patakh) means “to untie [or undo]” a rope or bonds. In this verse יִתְרוֹ (yitro, the Kethib, LXX, and Vulgate) would mean “his rope” (see יֶתֶר [yeter] in Judg 16:7-9). The Qere would be יִתְרִי (yitri, “my rope [or cord]”), meaning “me.” The word could mean “rope,” “cord,” or “bowstring.” If the reading “my cord” is accepted, the cord would be something like “my tent cord” (as in Job 29:20), more than K&D 12:147 “cord of life.” This has been followed in the present translation. If it were “my bowstring,” it would give the sense of disablement. If “his cord” is taken, it would signify that the restraint that God had in afflicting Job was loosened – nothing was held back.

[30:11]  ¹¹ sn People throw off all restraint in my presence means that when people saw how God afflicted Job, robbing him of his influence and power, then they turned on him with unrestrained insolence (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 193).

[30:12]  ¹² tn This Hebrew word occurs only here. The word פִּרְחַח (pirkhakh, “young rabble”) is a quadriliteral, from פָּרַח (parakh, “to bud”) The derivative אֶפְרֹחַ (’efroakh) in the Bible refers to a young bird. In Arabic farhun means both “young bird” and “base man.” Perhaps “young rabble” is the best meaning here (see R. Gordis, Job, 333).

[30:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “they cast off my feet” or “they send my feet away.” Many delete the line as troubling and superfluous. E. Dhorme (Job, 438) forces the lines to say “they draw my feet into a net.”

[30:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “paths of their destruction” or “their destructive paths.”

[30:12]  ¹⁵ sn See Job 19:12.

[30:13]  ¹⁶ tn This verb נָתְסוּ (natÿsu) is found nowhere else. It is probably a variant of the verb in Job 19:10. R. Gordis (Job, 333-34) notes the Arabic noun natsun (“thorns”), suggesting a denominative idea “they have placed thorns in my path.” Most take it to mean they ruin the way of escape.

[30:13]  ¹⁷ tc The MT has “they further my misfortune.” The line is difficult, with slight textual problems. The verb יֹעִילוּ (yo’ilu) means “to profit,” and so “to succeed” or “to set forward.” Good sense can be made from the MT as it stands, and many suggested changes are suspect.

[30:13]  ¹⁸ tn The sense of “restraining” for “helping” was proposed by Dillmann and supported by G. R. Driver (see AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 163).

[30:14]  ¹⁹ tn The MT has “under the crash,” with the idea that they rush in while the stones are falling around them (which is continuing the figure of the military attack). G. R. Driver took the expression to mean in a temporal sense “at the moment of the crash” (AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 163-64). Guillaume, drawing from Arabic, has “where the gap is made.”

[30:14]  ²⁰ tn The verb, the Hitpalpel of גָּלַל (galal), means “they roll themselves.” This could mean “they roll themselves under the ruins” (Dhorme), “they roll on like a storm” (Gordis), or “they roll on” as in waves of enemy attackers (see H. H. Rowley). This particular verb form is found only here (but see Amos 5:24).

[22:6]  ²¹ tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist’s experience and that of his ancestors. When he considers God’s past reliability, it only heightens his despair and confusion, for God’s present silence stands in stark contrast to his past saving acts.

[22:6]  ²² tn The metaphor expresses the psalmist’s self-perception, which is based on how others treat him (see the following line).

[22:6]  ²³ tn Or “not a human being.” The psalmist perceives himself as less than human.

[22:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a reproach of man and despised by people.”

[22:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “scoff at, deride, mock.”

[22:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they separate with a lip.” Apparently this refers to their verbal taunting.

[22:7]  ²⁷ sn Shake their heads. Apparently this refers to a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 109:25; Lam 2:15.

[22:13]  ²⁸ tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”

[22:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “they open against me their mouth[s].” To “open the mouth against” is a Hebrew idiom associated with eating and swallowing (see Ezek 2:8; Lam 2:16).

[22:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”

[35:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).

[35:15]  ³² tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.

[35:16]  ³³ tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).

[35:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.

[35:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[69:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “carry, bear.”

[69:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “on account of you.”

[69:7]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and shame covers my face.”

[69:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”

[69:9]  ⁴¹ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ⁴² tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ⁴³ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[69:10]  ⁴⁵ sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

[69:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”

[69:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”

[69:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”

[49:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[49:7]  ⁵⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[49:7]  ⁵¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “to [one who] despises life.” It is preferable to read with the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a לבזוי, which should be vocalized as a passive participle, לִבְזוּי (livzuy, “to the one despised with respect to life” [נֶפֶשׁ is a genitive of specification]). The consonantal sequence וי was probably misread as ה in the MT tradition. The contextual argument favors the 1QIsa^a reading. As J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:294) points out, the three terse phrases “convey a picture of lowliness, worthlessness, and helplessness.”

[49:7]  ⁵² tn MT’s Piel participle (“to the one who rejects”) does not fit contextually. The form should be revocalized as a Pual, “to the one rejected.”

[49:7]  ⁵³ tn Parallelism (see “rulers,” “kings,” “princes”) suggests that the singular גּוֹי (goy) be emended to a plural or understood in a collective sense (see 55:5).

[49:7]  ⁵⁴ tn For this sense of קוּם (qum), see Gen 19:1; 23:7; 33:10; Lev 19:32; 1 Sam 20:41; 25:41; 1 Kgs 2:19; Job 29:8.

[50:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Or perhaps, “who beat [me].”

[50:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”

[52:14]  ⁵⁷ tn Some witnesses read “him,” which is more consistent with the context, where the servant is spoken about, not addressed. However, it is possible that the Lord briefly addresses the servant here. The present translation assumes the latter view and places the phrase in parentheses.

[52:14]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “such was the disfigurement.” The noun מִשְׁחַת (mishkhat) occurs only here. It may be derived from the verbal root שָׁחַת (shakhat, “be ruined”; see BDB 1007-8 s.v. שָׁחַת). The construct form appears here before a prepositional phrase (cf. GKC 421 §130.a).

[52:14]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “from a man his appearance.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.” See BDB 583 s.v.

[53:3]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “lacking of men.” If the genitive is taken as specifying (“lacking with respect to men”), then the idea is that he lacked company because he was rejected by people. Another option is to take the genitive as indicating genus or larger class (i.e., “one lacking among men”). In this case one could translate, “he was a transient” (cf. the use of חָדֵל [khadel] in Ps 39:5 HT [39:4 ET]).

[53:3]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “like a hiding of the face from him,” i.e., “like one before whom the face is hidden” (see BDB 712 s.v. מַסְתֵּר).

[53:3]  ⁶² sn The servant is likened to a seriously ill person who is shunned by others because of his horrible disease.

[5:1]  ⁶³ sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[5:1]  ⁶⁴ tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).

[5:1]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”

[5:1]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”

[5:1]  ⁶⁷ tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).

[27:28]  ⁶⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:28]  ⁶⁹ sn The scarlet robe probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king.

[27:29]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “weaving.”

[27:29]  ⁷¹ sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

[27:29]  ⁷² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:29]  ⁷³ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[27:29]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “they mocked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[27:29]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[27:30]  ⁷⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:30]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “the reed.”

[27:30]  ⁷⁸ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[27:31]  ⁷⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:31]  ⁸⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[27:39]  ⁸¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:40]  ⁸² sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ⁸³ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[27:41]  ⁸⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ⁸⁶ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ⁸⁷ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ⁸⁸ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:43]  ⁸⁹ sn An allusion to Ps 22:8.

[27:44]  ⁹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:44]  ⁹¹ sn Matthew’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[15:16]  ⁹² tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to indicate that the soldiers’ action is in response to Pilate’s condemnation of the prisoner in v. 15.

[15:16]  ⁹³ tn Grk “(that is, the praetorium).”

[15:16]  ⁹⁴ sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.

[15:17]  ⁹⁵ sn The purple cloak probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king (cf. 15:2).

[15:17]  ⁹⁶ tn Or “weaving.”

[15:17]  ⁹⁷ sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

[15:18]  ⁹⁸ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[15:19]  ⁹⁹ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[15:19]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[15:20]  ¹⁰¹ tn The aorist tense is taken consummatively here.

[15:20]  ¹⁰² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:20]  ¹⁰³ sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.

[15:28]  ¹⁰⁴ tc Most later mss add 15:28 “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘He was counted with the lawless ones.’” Verse 28 is included in L Θ 083 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat, but is lacking in important Alexandrian and Western mss and some others (א A B C D Ψ pc). The addition of the verse with its quotation from Isa 53:12 probably represents a scribal assimilation from Luke 22:37. It was almost certainly not an original part of Mark’s Gospel. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[15:30]  ¹⁰⁵ sn There is rich irony in the statement of those who were passing by, “Save yourself and come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life. There is a similar kind of irony in the statement made by the chief priests and experts in the law in 15:31.

[15:31]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22. Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[15:31]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said among themselves.”

[15:32]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[15:32]  ¹⁰⁹ sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[12:2]  ¹¹⁰ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[12:1]  ¹¹¹ tn Grk “having such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us.”